UJ has identified ‘Ethical Foundation’ as one of its four values and we are living this value by nurturing and actively promoting an ethos of honesty, transparency, accountability and fairness in the institution. Because of our commitment, UJ is raising its ethics performance to further promote and celebrate our ethical culture.
An ethical organisation attracts and retains talented employees, gains the trust of investors, suppliers, customers, students, the community and other stakeholders by a visible ethical foundation and actions.
UJ embarked on a process of identifying areas of excellence in behaviours, practices and beliefs that confirm the Ethical Foundation value. In 2013, a qualitative Ethics Surveys was conducted among UJ staff, various students groups and stakeholders. Results of this survey infused the Culture Surveys that were conducted in 2014 and 2016 and the 360° Leadership Development Assessment conducted in 2016.
The Ethics Institute conducted a further quantitative survey in 2018. In 2019, the UJ Ethics Strategy was developed and approved by the MEC in November 2019 for implementation in 2020.
UJ Ethical Values
The importance of developing an ethics strategy
An ethics strategy is essential because it highlights the value of an ethical culture at UJ, and the core values of Imagination, Conversation, Regeneration and Ethical Foundation. A clear ethics strategy enables UJ to realise its ethical goals.
The strategy has five focus areas. The first two focus areas capture the foundation of the strategy and the remaining three focus areas describe the activities that will be needed on an ongoing basis.
